A Really Really Really Bad Day or One Good Thing is....

Well the one good thing is that he had only had water and saltines since last night, but let me start from the beginning. Three weeks ago Jenny came down with this strange mystery virus. It doesn't cause a fever, or runny nose, or coughing, any of the usual things that indicate that you are sick. It just made her feel bad; body aches, tiredness, general malaise. Stay at home mom's don't really get sick days so for the most part she still had all of her regular duties in child care. I think I went in late a couple of days so she could sleep in and I took at least half a day off. After about a week of this you start to wonder if the person is faking it, that is, you wonder until you come down with the same sickness. Fortunately she started getting over it as I came down with it.

So for the next week I felt horrible with no visible signs of sickness, then on the Friday of Labor Day weekend we had a trip planned to Buena Vista Co. I was pretty hesitant about it since I was still getting over being sick and I was still very tired. But we packed and hit the road. I had a sore throat and was exhausted the whole time, but it was okay otherwise. Even after getting back on Tuesday I still was not feeling my best. Finally after a few days I came down with a full blown cold, missed another day of work some where in there, I think... it is all pretty foggy, and slowly everyone else in the family has come down sick now too. Except Ethan.

I wish Ethan was sick because right now he is screaming "DADDY, I AM TALKING TO YOU" while I ignore him. He has been crying for me to put on a show for him for the last 10 minutes and I told him not right now, but that I would do it for him later. That isn't good enough though, he wants it "NOW!". Before that he was throwing a fit because he wanted his yo-yo back, before that he was throwing a fit because he was frustrated with the yo-yo because he couldn't get it to do what he wanted it to.

Jacob came home sick from school yesterday with a fever and since he absolutely refuses to take any medicine he suffers through his high temperatures with no relief. At about 4:00 this morning Jenny got up and went to Dillon's and Walgreen's because her ears were hurting so bad that she wanted to get some ear drops. After she got back and laid back down, around 5:00 Samuel starting crying. I put a shirt on him, covered him up better and gave him some of the ear drops (Finally Ethan went away... wait he is back... Jacob threw up in the toilet, he is okay though), so after laying Samuel back down in the middle of the night I checked on Jacob and he was burning up. I took his temperature and it said 106!! I freaked out a little bit, brain damage begins at 105 (or so I have heard). I woke Jenny back up and ran to get some ice water. She took his temp again several times and it only came to 103, whew, that was a close call. So Jenny laid back down and I finally convinced Jacob to take some Ibuprofen. That is the best he has ever done with taking medicine and he slept until after 9 this morning because of it.

Samuel has this 6th sense of knowing when I lay down. After finishing with Jacob at around 6:00 I laid down and as soon as I shut off my lamp, WHAAAAAA. Samuel was crying for something again. This time I held him for a little bit and gave him some Ibuprofen too. He slept fine after that.

After we got up this morning things are mostly a blur. I remember laying on the couch and Ethan and Samuel fighting over who could lay where on top of me. I remember Ethan bulling Samuel several times and whining because he was hungry (yes I did get up and feed him). Then he started with the aforementioned yo-yo at about 8:30 and hasn't stopped whining or crying or throwing a full blown fit ever since.

Jenny's ear problem was only getting worse. She already had a scheduled appointment this morning that she went to and when she came back she was obviously in extreme pain. She took some Ibuprofen, some more sudafed to help clear up her sinuses and then she even took some percocet left over from when I had my wisdom teeth removed (I am sitting on the deck right now and Mason, our dog, just chased a squirrel from out of a tree onto our house. He is looking down at me and for a moment I actually feared that he was going to pounce on me. I could see it in his beady little eyes. Whew, he is gone now. Off to hatch another evil plan). Still the pain was not letting up for Jenny. So she called her Dr. and scheduled an appointment for about an hour later at 10:50. She wanted to leave right then, and since she was in no shape to drive herself I loaded everyone up in the car to take her. The kids were mostly still in just their underwear, I had to carry Jacob from the couch out to the car. We pulled out of the driveway and drove up to the stop sign at the end of our street and Jacob said, "I feel like I am going to puke". I put the car in reverse and started to back up to our driveway again and BLAAAAAH.... BLAAAAAH... too late. The one good thing is that he had only had water and saltines since last night.

So Jenny took my car while I cleaned out the van. Ethan then threw a fit because we weren't going with Mommy. Jenny called about 45 minutes later and sounded horrible, I could barely understand anything she said, just that the doctor had given her some prescriptions that she was waiting to get filled at Walgreen's. When Jenny got home later, Ethan had thankfully calmed down and she was feeling a little better. She said that she got in to see the doctor early after they saw her putting finger dents in the armrest of her chair in the waiting room and that when the doctor looked in her ear, she gasped in surprise to see how swollen the inside was and that her ear drum was bleeding a little bit. There was a pinhole in it that was draining fluid and it might get bigger which would actually be a good thing because then it would drain faster. She gave Jenny a steroid, antibiotics and some oxycodone.

Things seem to have calmed down for the time being. The kids are quietly watching TV, Samuel is playing nicely, Jenny is resting in bed and now I have to figure out how to feed all of us . I really don't feel up to cooking anything and fast food sounds terrible... maybe I will just lay down while I have the chance.

I am sick of being sick!

The Fastest Decade of My Life, or Time Flies When You Are Having Fun, or Spending 10 Years With Your Best Friend

Today Jenny's and my marriage to each other turns 10 years old.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARRIAGE!!

If you have some spare time you can read about those 10 exciting years in Jenny's newest post here.

Team Rip Your Heart Out and Shove It Down Your Throat

When we first started the season and they were assigning us to our different teams and coaches, I gave the lady Jacobs name and she said ""Ok, he is on Team Caring". "What?", I said. "Are you serious? Team Caring is the name of our team? That has to be a joke! Why not just call us Team Lame, or Team Rainbow Lambs and Flowers? You name your ball team after some kind of ferocious or noble animal like, The Lions or The Stallions, not Team Caring!!" Ok, I didn't really say that to her, but I did think it.

We never spoke of that name again. I don't even think the boys ever knew that was the name of their team. How could I reveal such shame to them. They enjoyed the season though, and as you can see they "won" medals. I don't know what they did to win the medals, seeing as everyone else received one also, but I think it has something to do with paying the $55 to play T-Ball. Now I only wonder if later when they actually accomplish something and win a medal it will mean just a little bit less because of this.

Water Fight After the Rain Tonight

"Ethan don't shoot me I have my camera!"

"Can you hold still for just 5 seconds so I can get a picture of you that isn't blurry."

Shooting the spider on the back of my car

Wishing he could run with the big boys

Cow Town Field Trip

A Flying Cow
...and you hate it when a bird poops on your windshield!

Samuel Meets Johanna

Johanna is Samuels new cousin.

Lost and Found

Mason (our dog) slipped out of the house on Friday afternoon while my mom, sister and brother were here. He used to run away at every chance but about 2 years ago he spent a night in the dog pound and then stopped running away... until the last few weeks. He ran away twice 3 weeks ago but he had on his tag which had our address and phone number on it so people found him and brought him back. When he ran away on Friday Rachel was pretty upset but Jenny and I said someone will just bring him back like they always do. We didn't bother to go looking for him because that has never worked in the past. Later that night my stomach sank when I put the boys to bed and found his collar sitting on their dresser! No one would be bringing him back that night.

Rachel and I went looking for him for about a half hour with no luck. Then I came back and made the above missing poster and Jenny and I put about a dozen of them up along the nearest major road. All that was left was to sit around and wait.

The next day I saw him come trotting out of one of the bedrooms, where he had presumably just fallen asleep and not heard us call for him... but alas I awoke to find it only a dream.

The dog pound would open at 1:00 and we could call them then but thankfully right about 1:00 I got a phone call from someone that had found him and saw one of our posters at the same time. He was still out roaming the streets almost 24 hours later. They picked him up and brought him to our house within a minute of calling us. It was a big relief for the whole family.

Sorry it has been so long.

Here are some pictures from the zoo last Saturday.

Not sure why Rachel is not in this picture.

Guess what Jacob learned today?!!

see more here >>

The Blue Angels

My family came to see the Blue Angels on Sunday. Quite a show I must say, but man it was hot! Unfortunately I accidentally had my camera set to 1600 for the ISO(film speed) so the pictures are really grainy and not much good for anything except sharing on the Internet. I have to remember to always check the stinking ISO setting. I have done this more than once, but never that high.

Yes that is Rodrick on the left.

See if you can figure this one out?

Going to GC

BTW, to everyone in Garden we are going to be in town this weekend and sometime around Independence Day.

Super Parents?

Jacob has now made several references to how Jenny and I can see through things. I asked him why he thought that and he told me a story about how he was doing something he shouldn't behind a wall or something and we new what he was doing. That is on top of the fact that we have told him things like how we can always tell if he is not telling the truth and how we always know when he is doing something wrong. Yesterday he wanted me to help him come find a moth in the basement because I can see through things. I haven't had the heart to tell him that I can't. The sad thing is that in reality he can probably see better than I can.

A Samuel Homecoming

Resting up to head home.
(You can see some scratches on his face from his long fingernails. The scratches aren't as bad as they look in that picture though)

First time in his car seat. Really what he wants is to be fed again.

Right before we leave.
(Jenny looks nervous b/c the nurse is waiting for us while I insist on taking some pictures)

Samuel arrives home... and there was much rejoicing!!
(That is Bonnie, Jenny's mom, on the left)

Samuel Meets Jacob & Ethan

Ethan kisses Samuel

Jenny, Baby, Ethan & Jacob

The Howards at River Fest 2007

Do you like the pictures as a slideshow?

Out East

From Antietam & DC

Cherry Blossoms in DC

From Antietam & DC

From Antietam & DC

Antietam Creek

Pray for Jenny & New Baby!!

With Jenny's last 2 pregnancies she has had preeclampsia, which is why Ethan was born 4 weeks early. Right now she is still 10 weeks from her due date and her blood pressure is already high and they have found other signs of preeclampsia.

We just got back from picking up our new Mini-Van in Philadelphia and she is going to go into the doctor 1st thing in the morning. First they will put her on bed rest, which then the question is what do we do about Jacob & Ethan, and if that doesn't work the only other thing they can do is deliver the baby.

Please be praying for her and the new baby, both of them are in a risky place right now!

Through The Eyes Of Jacob

Jacob received a camera from his Aunt Gail for Christmas. Here is Jacobs photo journal starting on about Christmas 2006 up until today March 20th, 2007. You can pretty much assume that he took the picture unless you see him in the picture and it is obvious the he didn't. In the cases that he didn't take the picture it is usually Ethan and sometimes its taken by his Aunt Rachel. I have removed a few pictures that you couldn't tell what they where at all (probably taken by Ethan) but for the most part I have left it unedited.

I present to you the world through the eyes of a 4 year old boy...

Through The Eyes Of Jacob

A dog and his boy

Our ever loyal dog Mason and his boy Jacob...

Mason lets Jacob fall asleep on him one night when Jacob was having trouble settling down.

Here Mason comforts Ethan when he was sick with the flu several weeks ago. For about three days Ethan laid around and did nothing. Mason never left his side. Right before that Jacob was sick and Mason never left his side either.

Strangely enough Mason is sick with a cold right now (believe it or not). I have never seen him sick like this. Unfortunately the boys are not reciprocating in like manner.